Former hostages and their family members on Monday criticized the recent selection of Gal Hirsch, the government’s hostage point man, to light a torch at the Independence Day Ceremony on April 21, calling the choice “a slap in the face” to the ex-captives and their loved ones.

Hirsch’s selection for the ceremony comes some two months after he sparked controversy for saying, in a series of interviews, that mass demonstrations on behalf of the hostages had aided Hamas, leading to a group of former hostages and their relatives demanding his resignation.

Yonatan Shamriz, the brother of hostage Alon Shamriz, who was mistakenly killed by IDF forces after managing to escape captivity in Gaza, called it “simply absurd.”

“Instead of being held accountable, instead of facing a state commission of inquiry, he is being given a national stage,” said Shamriz, noting that Hirsch was accused by hostage families of pressuring them not to criticize the government that had abandoned them on October 7.

Lishay Lavi-Miran, whose husband Omri Miran was released from captivity in October 2025, wrote on X: “No rearguard battle over the narrative will change the truth about what happened there — something so many people already know.”

“No torch-lighting ceremony will erase the abandonment,” she........

© The Times of Israel